Hook forming mechanism



P. VARGO ETAL 2,676,622

HOOK FORMING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 2, 1952 lnven tor's:

Paul, Verge, Thomas Afos ter, J11

Theah- A t' tornea.

Patented Apr. 27, 1954 UNITED ATENT OFFICE HOOK FORMING MECHANISM Application January 2, 1952, Serial No. 264,604

2 Claims.

Our invention relates to apparatus for making incandescent lamps, discharge devices and like electrical devices, and more particularly to a mechanism for preparing the lead-in wires of said device for the mounting of a filament or the like thereon by bending hooks in end portions of said lead-in wires. I

An object of our invention is to provide a mechanism particularly suited to the bending of uniformly shaped and positioned hooks in end portions of lead-in wires of a preassembly unit of an electrical device, the mechanism being adapted to particularly satisfactory operation under normal commercial conditions which often find the lead-in wires burred to some extent and of different degrees of hardness. Another object is to provide mechanism of a type suited to the described form of operation in very high speed automatic apparatus which must operate so reliably as to require attention only at infrequent intervals and which must manufacture a uniform product under normal conditions of wear in apparatus and variations in the product being worked upon. The mechanism is, for instance, adapted to bend open hooks in a pair of lead-in wires extending from a preassembly unit in the form of a vitreous stem and to bend the hooks in said lead-in wires at a specific relation to said stem so that a filament is mounted at a correct relation thereto. The hooks must also have a proper form so that the filament is not injured and will function properly in its mounting on said lead-in wires.

Another object of our invention is to provide a rugged and serviceable mechanism for automatically bending hooks in end portions of lead-in wires, which mechanism provides an ease of adjustment and readily observed operation making it highly desirable and useful. The mechanism provides for the arrangement of a die or anvil and a backing member adjacent opposite sides of an intermediate portion of a lead-in wire and then, through the movements of an eccentric end portion on a rotated spindle, the wiping of the end portion of the lead-in wire over and against the adjoining face of the anvil. The manner ofbacking the intermediate portion of the lead-in wire, of moving the anvil to and from operative relation thereto and of wiping the end portion of the lead-in wire is such as to inherently produce properly formed hooks and to avoid subsequent damage to said hooks and the lead-in wires, all of which, eliminates the need for critical adjustment and difficulties ordinarily caused by wear, and which promotes uninterrupted and satisfactory service. I

Still other objects and advantages of our invention will appear from the following detailed description of a species thereof and from the drawing.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a hook bending mechanism comprising our invention and showing the relationship of its ele ments at a time when said mechanism is midway through its cycle of forming hooks in the end portions of a pair of lead-in wires extending from a vitreous stem of an incandescent lamp; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the lamp stem after completion of the operation of the hook forming mechanism; and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the essential elements of the hook forming mechanism at the moment of completion of the hook bending operation, the view being modified by a showing of the overlying support arm for the anvil in dot-dash lines and a broken away section in the support standard.

The hook bending mechanism is located adjacent the path of movement of a carrier I for advancing the lamp stem 2 or other electrical device to working relation thereto and operates to its fullest advantage when located at one of the work stations of a carrier for advancing said stem 2 or other electrical device to an associated group of mechanisms for automatically performing still other of the mount making operations on said stem 2 or said device. The mechanism can, for instance, be located at a work station of an automatic mount making machine .of the general type disclosed in Illingworth Patent 1,733,881, dated October 29, 1929 in that it pro vides for the subsequent mounting of. a filament between two of the four lead-in wires 3, 4, 5, and 6 extending from the stem 2 by forming open hooks i therein at specific relations to said stem 2 and without bending or otherwise disturbing the relation of the lead-in wires and said stem 2. An indexing motion of the carrier l provides for the presentation of a succession of stems 2 in turn to working relation to the hook bending mechanism by lateral movements of said carrier I at a time when the lead bending elements of said mechanism are raised above and swung to one side of the path of movement of said stem 2 and the plane of the lead-in wires 3 and d. The stem 2 is retained by a holder of the carrier 1 which establishes its position vertically by the seating of the flared end 8 thereof against the plate 9 and which prevents rotative or other dis placement thereof by the gripping force of the jaws I0 and il.

' The first step in the operation of the hook bending mechanism occurs with a simultaneous downward positioning movement of the backing member I2 and the bending finger 13 to locations between the pairs of lead-in wires 3, l, and 5, 6. The backing member I2, is essentially a vertically extending plate-like body here shown as substantially the shape of a U turned on its side and encompassing the bending finger it which is an eccentrioally positioned portion of the end of a spindle [4. -It will be appreciated that the lower leg of U-shaped plate 12 serves as the backing member proper. A beveled lower edge i on the backing member 52 assists the passage of the backing member i2 and the bending finger [3 between the pairs of lead-in wires 3, 4 and 5, 6 without damage to said lead-in wires although said backing member :2 and the bend ing finger l3 are both substantially of a Width the same as the space between said pairs of wires 3, 4 and 5, 6. The spindle I4 is mounted in a bearing boss !6 which is an integral part of the slide l! and which has the backing member 52 attached thereto. The slide I? is moved within the vertical slide ways in the standard is by the corresponding longitudinal motion of an operating rod l9 and is timed to the movements of the stem 2 to, operative relation to the mechanism by the carrier I by being actuated from the common drive means of the mount making machine in the manner of other devices in combination therewith. During the presently described positioning movements of the backing member i 2 and the bending finger [3, the expansion force of thehelical spring 29 located between collar 2! on the upper end of the operating rod. iii and the top flange 22 on the slide 11 causes the hearing boss 23 of said slide I? to bear against the lower collar 24 on said operating rod 49 and said slide l! to follow the movements thereof.

The next step in the operation of the hook bending mechanism is a swinging movement of the die or anvil 25, located on the opposite of the. stem 2 from the backing member 52 and the bending finger l3, to a position against intermediate portions of the lead-in wires 3 and i opposite said backing member 12 and bending finger l 3. The anvil 25 is mounted upon an arm 26 pivoted upon a stud 2? carried by a projecting support arm 28 of the standard it and moves obliquely upward to engagement with the leadin wires 3 and 4 when the continuing downward motion of the slide l1 carries the end of the bolt 29 against the extending end of the gear segment 39 so as to effect rotation of the arm 25 about said stud 21. The movement of the anvil 25 is completed when the bolt 29, which is mounted in a bracket 3! attached to the slide 11, and said slide I? are interrupted in their course of motion by the engagement of post 32 (Fig. 3) in the back of said slide I1 with the'stop screw 33 in the standard I 8. At that time, the gear segment 38 and the intermeshing gear segment 34 on the arm 25 have been turned about their pivot studs 35 and 2'. respectively in the support arm 23 an extent to properly position said anvil 25. In the usual manner of operating the hook bending mechanism, the anvil 25 is moved until it forces the lead-in wires 3 and 4 lightly against the face of the backing member l2 and the contiguous face of the bending finger I3; however, the gripping action thereof is not essential to the operation of the mechanism and said anvil 25 will operate properly if it is moved only to such an extent that the oblique face 36 thereof engages or is nearly contacting said lead-in wires 3 and Ii and the tip 4 thereof is at the height desired for the base of the hooks I in said lead-in wires 3 and i.

The hook bending operation of the mechanism is the next operation to occur and is brou ht about by the wiping and rolling actions of ti bending finger l3 resulting when it is around the-working edge of anvil by the rotation of the spindle Hi, the axis of spindle it be ing substantially aligned with the upper working edge of the anvil 25. The direction of movement of the bending finger I3 is such lay portions of the lead-in wires 3 and It over and against the top and back of the tip anvil 25 and is due to its eccentric position on the end or" the spindle !4. The finger it slides aim the length of the end portions of h lead-in wires 3 and 5 during the course of motion about the tips of the anvil 25 and that tends to prevent said end portions from shn ing laterally from alignment with the main body of said lead-in wires 3. and d. This m-er f bending the lead-in wires 3 and it prevents t e manufacture of offset hooks, usually the result of variations in hardness, burrs and other conditions in the lead-in wires 3 and i, avoids so-called scissoring of the hooks whereby exces-- sive bending and damage results to a filament attached to said lead-in Wires 3 and t thereby.

The rotation of the spindle i i and the re sulting movement in the bending finger brought about by means of the spur gear 3? on the end of said spindle is and occur when continuing downward movement of the operating rod [8 causes the gear teeth 33 in a portion thereof opposite said gear 37 to turn the intermediate spur gear 39. At such. times, the motion of the operating rod It further compresses the helical spring 28 since the slide pre vented from moving. by the stop screw 33, the rod l9 moves relatively to the spur gears 3i and 39 since said spur gears 31 and 39 are upon spindles Hi and 49 respectively within the extending boss it on said slide ll. At the limit of the motion the bending finger i3 is at the position shownin Fig. 3.

The bending mechanism is separated from the lead-in wires 3 and i and the hooks i now .ppearing in the ends thereof in the course of a return upward movement of the operating rod 55. This motion of the operating it first returns the bending finger [3 to its initial position above the lower end of the backing member 52 as the expansion of the helical spring keeps the slide ll at the limit of motion fixed by the stop screw 33, and then effects an upward me on of both the bending finger i3 and the member i2 as the collar 2% thereon engage and forces the slide I! upward therewith. The anvil is not pulled away from the hooks i the lead-in wires 3 and 4' until the gear segment 38 is engaged and turned by a bolt d! on the bracket 3i during the continuing motion of the opera rod is and the-slide 17. At the-upper limit of movement of the operating rod is, the anvil has turned to suchan extent that the ear-ti the supporting arm 26 therefor bears against the stop screw $3 in the stationary arm' 23 of the standard 18. The ear s2 and stop screw also have the function of preventing the anvil from swinging beyond its allowable limit of motion should it drop away from the lead-in wires 3 and l by its own weight duringthe retraction ill-- terval.

This manner of separating the bending finger i3, backing member i2 and anvil 25 from the lead-in wires 3 and 4 pulls the backing member 12 out from behind said lead-in wires 3 and 4 prior to the withdrawal of the anvil 25 and thereby releases any clamping action that may have existed or have been built up between said backing member 12 and the anvil 25. The withdrawal of the anvil 25, on the other hand, occurs in an oblique direction with respect to said leadin wires 3 and 4 and accordingly separates from the hooks 1 therein without bending or otherwise disturbing the position of the hooks or of the lead-in wires.

It will be understood that while a particular manner of operating the essential elements of the hook bendingmechanism have been shown and described in detail, the specific construction and means for this purpose may be modified widely within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination with means for holding a stem having a pair of substantially parallel leadin wires projecting therefrom, of a, hook bending mechanism arranged to be located adjacent said holding means and comprising a backing member, a bending finger contiguous to said backing member and having a face constituting a continuation of a face of said backing member, a rotatable spindle carrying said bending finger eccentrically at an end thereof, means mounting said backing member and said bending finger for movement toward said holding means to bring said faces thereofagainst end portions of said lead-in wires, means for so moving said backing member and bending finger, an anvil located opposite the said faces of said backing member and finger, means mounting said anvil for movement toward said faces and against said lead-in wires with a working edge of said anvil spaced back from the terminals of said lead-in wires, means for so movingsaid anvil, and means for rotating said spindle to carry said bending finger around the said edge of the anvil and thereby 6 bend the ends of said lead-in wires around said anvil.

2. In combination with means for holding a stem having a pair of substantially parallel leadin wires projecting upwardly therefrom, of a hook bending mechanism arranged to be located adjacent said holding means and comprising a horizontal backing member above said holding means having a vertical face, a horizontal bending finger immediately above and contiguous to said backing member and having a vertical face constituting a continuation of the said face of said backing member, a horizontal rotatable spindle carrying said bending finger eccentrically at an end thereof, means mounting said backing member and said bending finger for movement downward toward said holding means to bring said faces thereof against portions of the upper ends of said lead-in wires, means for so moving said backing member and bending finger, an anvil located opposite the said faces of said backing member and finger, means mounting said anvil for movement upwardly and in an arcuate path toward said faces and against said lead-in wires with a horizontal working edge of said anvil spaced below the upper ends of said lead-in wires, means for so moving said anvil, and means for rotating said spindle to carry said bending finger around the said edge of the anvil and thereby bend the ends of said lead-in wires around said anvil.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,765,357 Regenstrief June 17, 1930 1,791,378 Regenstrief Feb. 3, 1931 1,907,532 Flaws May 9, 1933 2,085,578 Flaws June 29, 1937 2,380,742 Flaws July 31, 1945 2,575,771 Russell Nov. 20, 1951 2,578,216 Young Dec. 11, 1951 

